Boosey & Hawkes, the classical music business behind Igor Stravinsky and Serge Prokofieff, was yesterday sold for £126 million by its private equity owners to a Dutch pension fund looking for safe haven investments.

The buyer is Imagem Music, which is backed by Dutch pension fund ABP. It will add Boosey to a collection of rock and pop copyrights recently acquired from Universal.

John Minch, chief executive, said: “I think I’m the only one in the office today, as everybody else is down the pub. There are so many risky assets out there, and ABP think intellecutal property looks like a safe place”.

The sale also sets a reference price for the attempted sale of Chrysalis Music, which owns a contemporary songwriters' catalogue that is similar in size. Boosey’s net share of revenues was £13 million last year compared to Chrysalis’s £11.9 million — although £12 million of Boosey’s income stems from composers who are now dead.

Applying the same multiple of 9.7 times to Chrysalis would value the company that owns the rights to Blondie and David Bowie at 172p a share. Chrysalis, which is debt free, was yesterday trading at 138p amid talk that a sale is proving difficult to conclude.

Hg Capital had owned the business Boosey & Hawkes for four years, after taking the company private for £75 million in 2003. It injected £37 million of equity and is taking out £73 million, after the company’s £53 million debts are cleared.

During Hg’s ownership, underlying profits went from £3.3 million in 2003 to £6.8 million in 2007, with performance boosted partly by refocusing the business away from sheet music sales at its formerly owned Regent Street shop, to aggresively marketing classical music for use in advertising.

Other bidders in the auction included Bug Music, the independent music publisher, plus a bid led by Nick Firth, the former boss of BMG Music Publishing, now backed by Istithmar, and a bid from Babcock and Brown.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive